Finish line in sight for candidates

General election to fill District 4 County Council seat set for Tuesday

With less than one week until the special general election to fill the County Council District 4 seat, the candidates are taking different tacks on how they are heading to Tuesday's finish line.

Nancy Navarro, county school board member and winner of the Democratic primary, is lining up powerful endorsements after taking a week off to grieve the unexpected death of her mother.

Perennial candidate and tax-reform advocate Robin Ficker won the Republican primary without raising or spending much money, but is now taking "modest" contributions from homeowners within the district.

Green Party candidate George Gluck introduced a plan to change the county's property tax, which he calls regressive, to be modeled after the progressive federal income tax.

The special election is being held to fill the seat left vacant by Councilman Don Praisner (D), who died Jan. 30. He won the seat in a special election last spring after his wife, longtime Councilwoman Marilyn J. Praisner (D), died that February.

At a press conference Monday outside the County Council building in downtown Rockville, Navarro, a Silver Spring resident, received the endorsements of County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) of Burtonsville, Councilwoman Duchy Trachtenberg (D-At large) of North Bethesda and the Montgomery County Business PAC, all of whom had endorsed Navarro's Democratic rival, Del. Benjamin Kramer (D-Dist. 19) of Derwood, in the primary.

She has also received the endorsements of U.S. Sens. Barbara A. Mikulski and Benjamin Cardin, U.S. Reps. Christopher Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington and Donna Edwards (D-Dist. 4) of Fort Washington, Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown (D).

Including Trachtenberg, six of the eight council members have endorsed Navarro. Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) and Marc Elrich (D-At Large) were not listed among supporters on Navarro's campaign literature.

"I'm really, really grateful for that endorsement," Navarro said of Leggett's support. "I believe his leadership has meant quite a lot in our county and as my role on the Board of Education for five years, especially in the past two years, we've worked very closely together to ensure quality education."

She said her campaign will step up efforts to reach voters in the final week before the general election.

"We'll continue to be out there talking to voters, we'll continue to remind everybody that it's not over, that you still have to come out on the 19th," she said. "There will be a number of debates we'll participate in and we'll count down the days."

Ficker, who hasn't filed a campaign finance report until now because he has run his campaign on less than the minimum required for reporting, said that lasted "only until a certain point."

He is now taking contributions from individuals inside District 4, he said.

"None of my contributions came from outside the 4th District," Ficker said. "None of my contributions came from developers, although I'm not against development. None of my contributions came from unions, although I'm not against unions."

The total number of Republican votes for the primary election was smaller than Navarro's vote count in her razor-thin victory over Kramer in April.

Ficker said he is stepping up voter registration efforts before the general election, but is also counting on a strong independent voter turnout and crossover votes from registered democrats.

"You can't forget, I was the Independent candidate for county executive in 2006," Ficker said.

Gluck, meanwhile, has raised comparatively little money and has spent very frugally.

His single yard-sign is homemade, sits in his Rockville front yard and was crafted from a recycled yard-sign from President Barack Obama's presidential campaign, he said.

He has proposed a graduated property tax that would mimic the federal income tax, an idea he said he got after hearing that people were responding to Ficker's tax-reform platform.

The current property tax rate of a flat 92 cents for every $100 of assessed value would be changed and a new rate would be assigned based on the property's value. For example, a property valued under $200,000 would have a tax rate of 50 cents per $100 of assessed value.

A property assessed at $400,000 would pay 65 cents per $100 of assessed value, and so on, until reaching the top tier of homes valued at $2 million or more, which would pay $1.30 per $100 of assessed value.

Gluck said that under his model, far more than half the county residents would pay a lower property tax, while the county's property tax revenue would stay at approximately the same level.

He said he knows the council does not have the authority to enact such sweeping tax law changes without state approval, but he said he has been getting positive responses to his campaign in general.

"There are some people out there who want to see something different on the council," Gluck said. "I think I'm making some inroads with people, but the problem is I'm only doing it one door at a time."

The Montgomery County Board of Elections is mailing sample ballots for the May 19 special election to all registered voters in District 4. The sample ballots include:

-Polling place names and addresses.

-Instructions on how to use the touch-screen voting machines.

Polls will be open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday.

For further information on the voting process, call 240-777-VOTE or visit the Board of Elections Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov/elections.